‘Sacred Games’ Season 2: Everything you need to know about what’s happening in the game

‘Sacred Games’ Season 2: Everything you need to know about what’s happening in the game
‘Sacred Games’ follows the plight of a thoroughly bored Sartaj Singh who finds himself in the middle of a gripping crime. (IMDb)

The show has been following the violent crime of Mumbai’s underworld as law and order take the backseat, and crime and punishment are the call of the day.

One of the biggest challenges which ‘Sacred Games’ had to face when it first arrived on Netflix was to be accepted by the domestic audience, closer home. Over the course of Season 1, which can be described as a partial mixture of ‘Narcos’ and ‘Mindhunter’, the show managed to attract a global audience. On one hand, its gripping tale of the Mumbai underworld gave a whole new dimension to Indian television- which otherwise tends to seap deeper into the soap operas- on the other hand, it established the nation’s place on the global streaming platform as one of its significant contributors.

Immediately after the release of the first season on Netflix last year it was already announced the show would continue the story in a second season. As Netflix released its first teaser today, here’s everything you need to know about ‘Sacred Games’ Season 2:

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Release Date:

As of now there is no fixed date for Season 2 but it is confirmed that the show will return sometime later this year, most probably by July.

 

Plot:

Based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 titular novel, ‘Sacred Games’ brought out the ugly reality of law and order. A thoroughly bored, Sartaj Singh, who despises the system but follows the rules finds himself neck deep in a cat-and-mouse chase when he receives an anonymous phone call. The voice on the other end, of a man named Ganesh Gaitonde, guides him to find out the hidden threat looming over Mumbai within a span of 25 days. However, with every clue the case get even more complicated and soon Sartaj realizes it is a game more complex than just saving lives. 

Season 2 will however see a brand new case unfold, and perhaps we will see yet another menacing presence in the city and Sartaj once more struggling to make ends meet.

 

Cast:

Season 1 saw Saif Ali Khan take up the role of a confused yet loyal police officer, Sartaj Singh, a milestone role in the career of an actor who has almost 60 movies to his name. Khan’s allegiance to the show almost assured a nation-wide audience who know the actor for his iconic roles in movies like ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, ‘Hum Tum’, and the Indian adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, ‘Omkara’. On the other hand, it also helmed the undying bond for Radhika Apte who played the strict Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer, Anjali Mathur. Apte was precise with her acting as she has always been ever since she appeared in the 2009 Bengali film, ‘Antaheen’. In 2018 alone, she starred in three Netflix productions which include, ‘Lust Stories’, ‘Ghoul’, and ‘Sacred Games’. However, the real show stealer continues to be Nawazuddin Siddiqui who humane treatment of Gaitonde gave an edge to the show above others such as ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Narcos’.

The show sheds light on the underworld of Mumbai. (IMDb)

Season 2 will see a new cast coming together along with Khan who will return to resume his role as Sartaj Singh, and Siddiqui as the clement murderer, Gaitonde. The new cast will include Pankaj Tripathi whose brief character, Guruji, will finally have a parallel storyline in Season 2, Kalki Koechlin whose unnamed character is being said to play a major role in the plot for Season 2. Joining them will be Ranvir Shorey who has confessed that his character, Shahid Khan, will be a “complete departure from any of the roles [he has] played before.” On the other hand, Jatin Sarna’s Bunty will also be back. The actor has revealed of his character, “The second season goes into a flashback. My character Bunty is on a wheelchair. So I need to harness and control my natural energy level to play a subdued physically limited character."

 

Season 1 Recap:

The plot opens itself with a dog falling off a building in the opening scene, an element which plays a significant role in the show later on. Soon we are introduced to the main characters and are told of a sinister phone call from a certain Ganesh Gaitonde who informs officer artaj Singh about an impending doom over the city. As the 25-day countdown to the ultimate doomsday begins, Sartaj finds himself constantly being tied deeper into a game he isn’t well versed with. It is soon revealed that Gaitonde knows his father and in a parallel flashback we get to see the gangster’s rise to fame as one of the most notorious criminals in the city.

 

‘Sacred Games’ is returning for a Season 2. (IMDb)

In the end the relation between Gaitonde and Sartaj’s father is revealed, the latter being a kind prison officer who would take care of Gaitonde while he was behind bars. As the season comes to a close the sinister mishaps of a religious war looms large on the background while the Union Home Minister’s intentions are put to question. We were left with Sartaj finding out a secret hideout that could be the only possible way of surviving a nuclear blast.

 

Shows to watch:

As we wait for the arrival of ‘Sacred Games’ season 2, it might be a good idea to check out Amazon Prime’s ‘Mirzapur’ an equally enthralling series about a man’s journey to becoming a mafia boss by selling carpets. However, his kingdom comes crumbling down when his unworthy son busks under his father’s glory but does nothing to continue the legacy. Similarly ‘Ghoul’ looks deep into the shame and guilt of humans as they try to fix others by overlooking their own flaws. It is the second Indian Netflix series to have reached a global audience after ‘Sacred Games’.

In case you are more into the violent aspect of a mystery thriller, Amazon Prime’s ‘Breathe’ brings to you the unusual tale of a series of murders, each of which is connected with one link- organ donation. ‘Breathe’, a lot like ‘Sacred Games’, takes the story to a different level when it involves a humane element of father-son relationship which kind of forms the underlying statement of the Netflix series. However, it might also be a good idea to check out other international thriller such as ‘The Sinner’ and ‘The Innocents’.